Hannah von Wiehler

Hannah von Wiehler (née Schneider) is a trail-blazing young conductor, representing one of the most refreshingly free-thinking and excitingly entrepreneurial musical voices of her generation.

Hannah is Founder & Music Director of the Oxford Alternative Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to the intersection of classical music and social impact, based in Oxford, UK. In this role, she focuses on unusual programming, including a careful mix of classics, new commissions, and some of the 21st-century’s most daring and genre-defying composers. The 2021/2022 concert season also sees von Wiehler make her Chinese debut with The Sichuan Orchestra of China, her debut with Opera Holland Park and Eugene Onegin, assisting Barbara Hannigan with the London Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young with the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, and both recording and giving concerts with the London Chamber Orchestra. Other recent and forthcoming highlights include returns Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Lviv National Symphony, and numerous orchestras throughout Russia and Eastern Europe.

For nearly two years, von Wiehler served as the personal administrative assistant to Valery Gergiev, as well as Director of Special Projects for the Mariinsky Foundation of America. During this time, and with Maestro Gergiev’s mentorship and encouragement, von Wiehler began to turn her attentions towards conducting, undertaking formal lessons with Leonid Korchmar. She receives generous coaching from Jessica Cottis and Karen Kamensek, has participated in masterclasses with Paavo Järvi, and continues her close relationship with her ongoing mentor Valery Gergiev.

She is well-versed in music of the 19th and 20th centuries, and also enjoys a natural affinity for contemporary music, with a particular passion for contemporary opera – with the Oxford Alternative Orchestra she has staged the Oxford premieres of The Cave (Steve Reich) and The Corridor (Harrison Birtwistle), in addition to producing fully stage performances of canonic works such as La Traviata and Eugene Onegin.

In 2020, von Wiehler completed her doctorate on the canon of Rodion Shchedrin at the University of Oxford, where she attended as a Rhodes Scholar.